AP News53%
Trump approves disaster requests for at least 7 states. Others await aid decisions 25%
By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA0%
4/11/2026, 7:02:16 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Optimism Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 39.2% saturation with 177 hits. Analysis detected 830 faulty-reasoning hits from 451 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 37.2% and a BS Rank of 25% (12,466 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 75.30% of the article peer group.
President Donald Trump has approved major disaster declaration requests for at least seven states, according to information released Saturday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, allowing affected communities to access federal support.
About 15 requests for assistance from others states and tribes for extreme weather events this year and last seem to be pending, along with three appeals of previous denials.
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota and Washington were granted major disaster declarations, which can unlock federal support and funding for recovery needs such as public infrastructure repairs and aid for survivors.
Mullin said Tuesday that he planned to brief Trump that day on the pending declaration requests, affirming his intention to speed up work on past disasters in the run-up to Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1.
While Mullin assured fellow senators during his confirmation hearing that he believed in FEMA’s mission, the agency’s future is uncertain.
Trump has expressed a desire to push more responsibility for disasters down to states.
The FEMA Review Council he appointed last year has not released a recommendation report expected to include sweeping changes to how the federal government supports disaster resilience, response and recovery.
It was not immediately clear whether other states or tribes had also been told of approvals or denials that were not yet announced publicly.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a Democrat, said Wednesday said his state had received a disaster declaration for devastating March flooding.
Trump also amended past disaster declarations for Tennessee and Mississippi, adding more counties for individual assistance after a severe winter storm in January.
Some communities have experienced unprecedented long waits for answers on their disaster requests during Trump’s second term.
An analysis by The Associated Press in September found approvals were taking more than a month on average.
It took less than two weeks on average for a governor’s disaster declaration request to be granted by presidents in the 1990s and early 2000s.
That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties.
Arizona has been waiting nearly three months for an answer to its appeal after being denied support for severe storms and flooding that occurred in September.
Some Democrat-led states have complained about being denied disaster declarations despite proving need.
Maryland Gov.
Wes Moore called Trump’s decision “deeply frustrating” after the president twice denied the state’s request for support for May 2025 flooding despite a FEMA assessment showing over $33 million in damages.
While FEMA assesses damage and uses a specific formula to analyze the possible impact on states and local jurisdictions, disaster declarations are ultimately at the president’s discretion.
Analysis
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